What’s the best way to travel

September 2, 2017

Traveling is what I love to do. If I could spend 360 days a year traveling I would, however when it comes to traveling there are so many options. Do you self-plan or go with a company group? I’m going to share with y’all my last two travel experiences where one was self-planned travel with my amazing boyfriend and the other was a New Years trip with EF College Break. I’ll include links to both my trips at the bottom, including referral codes and discounts!

Rundown of my EF College Break tour

If you haven’t heard of EF College Break then you’re missing out. EF College Break is an amazing travel tour company that focuses on those aged 18-28. They have trips all over the world with amazing tour guides and all for a great price.

In each tour they include, flights, accommodations, breakfast every day, a few other meals, transportation, local and tourist activities, an amazing tour guide from the country your visiting and more. EF College Break does tons of deals and discounts throughout the year and offer great packages for friends traveling together.

On my tour I went to Costa Rica over New Year’s Eve for 10 days not knowing a soul. There, I quickly made some great friends that I still talk to today. The tour exceeded all of my expectations. The accommodations were amazing compared to an average hostel or airbnb and the activities they chose for us were incredible, I’m not exaggerating.

To mention only a few of what College Break had planned for us while in Costa Rica I’ll highlight my favorites. The first full day we explored a coffee plantation and were able to see how coffee goes from fruit to a delicious hot drink. At the plantation we also got to try a variety of coffee that was famous to Costa Rica. Later on in the trip we went zip lining in the rain forest so high I was trembling but the views were breath taking. Then on one of the last days we went white water rafting and had the time of our lives in the Sarapiqui River.

EF College Break also allows for free time where you can explore more of the city on your own or rest and relax in a beautiful new place. Overall I left wanting to do a million more EF College Break tours.

Rundown of my time in Quebec City

In my previous post I give all the details about my first trip to Canada so I will only highlight a few things here, but if you would like to read more click over to that post on listed on the sidebar.

Quebec City is a gorgeous part of Canada rich with history. There my boyfriend and I stayed in both an airbnb and a hostel. We explored the coble streets of Old Quebec, went on a food tour, hiked up Montmorency Falls and even sipped cocktails in the Château du Frontenac. We managed to never get too lost due to having full use of one of our phones and stumbled upon some delicious and fun restaurants and bars.

Overall we got our first taste of Canada and would love to visit again. Also it really is true, Canadians are extremely friendly and helpful.

Pros to planning your own trip

If you plan your own trip you have full control over your itinerary. This means you can go where you want to go, eat where you want to eat, and sleep when you want to sleep. That last one I think is my favorite.

When planning your own trip you can decide where to cut costs and where to splurge a little bit. Whether you decide you want to stay in five star accommodations or find the cheapest bed so you can splurge on activities, it’s up to you.

Another bonus with planning your own trip is the option to travel with just select people. Traveling with others isn’t always easy, so having full control of who you’re with can be a huge bonus.

Cons to planning your own trip

Having to do all the work; When planning your own trip to a new country you have to put a lot of work into researching where you want to go and what you want to see or experience. This could be fun for some and you may have friends who give suggestions, but it can be time consuming and you may not even discover the best places to visit.

Budgeting and accommodations are key to self-planned travel and if you aren’t on top of your game with organization then these too could be a headache. Finding accommodations with both a good location, comfortability and at a reasonable price can be a challenge even with all the resources we have today.

Getting lost is another challenge that many self-planned travelers face. Once in a different country you might not have the right cell service or even speak the language. Avoiding this may take a bit of work and research as well.

Pros to traveling with a company

I can only speak for my EF College break experience, but taking the worry out of planning a 10 day trip to a country I’ve never been to was a huge pro in my book. All I simply had to do was pick where and when I wanted to go and EF did all the rest. They even have an option for payments split up into monthly amounts so you don’t have to pay everything up front.

Having a professional and local tour guide was a huge pro in my book. Our guide, Ryan, was both hilarious and extremely knowledgeable about his home country. He knew all the favorite places to go, whether for locals or tourists and helped us with any issues we ran into while there.

Not having to worry about transportation to Costa Rica or while there. EF buys your plane tickets there and home, and if you want to extend your stay or go somewhere else they’ll assist you in doing that as well. Another large pro on my list was having transportation all figured out while there. Our bus took us from not only activity to activity, but also city to city. The only thing we had to do was worry about waking up on time.

Cons to traveling with a company

As I mentioned in the pros for self-planned travel, traveling with anyone can be challenging, but traveling with a large group you’ve never met can be even more intimidating.

Getting reasonable but little sleep. Traveling is exhausting and if you can’t sleep in a car or bus then it can be hard for you to be fully rested throughout the trip.

Which is better?

Overall I’d say I loved both my experiences traveling. They both had challenges, but each trip was unforgettable and 100 percent worth it. However if I had to choose which one I would do next it would have to be EF College Break. I had so much fun meeting new people and experiencing a new country like I did that I would do it again and again. I already am planning my next trip with them, leave me a comment if you’d like to come along!

Here’s a link to the Costa Rica trip I went on last New Years that’ll save you money, and right now they have a labor day sale that take $250 off every trip.